Centre County reported 36 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday to increase its total to 17,594, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Among total cases, 15,987 are confirmed and 1,607 are probable.
Pennsylvania added 3,790 new positives — its largest increase since April 30 — to bring the statewide total to 1,291,831.
The county also reported 134 negative test results for a total of 75,195. Statewide, there were 10,586 new negatives for a total of 5,122,145.
Transmission Level
Centre County is now at the high level for community transmission of COVID-19 — the highest on the Centers for Disease Control scale — as of the CDC’s latest county-level data update on Friday afternoon. The county had been at substantial, the second highest level, for the last three weeks.
Neighboring Blair, Clearfield, Huntingdon, Mifflin and Union counties are also at the high level, while Clinton is at substantial.
Transmission levels are based on positivity rate and cases per 100,000 people for the previous seven days. At the substantial and high levels, CDC guidance recommends all people, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks in public indoor settings.
Deaths
DOH reported no new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents on Saturday, keeping its total at 230 for the ninth consecutive day.
With 28 new COVID-19 deaths statewide, Pennsylvania’s total is now 28,208.
Hospitalizations
According to the DOH hospital preparedness dashboard, 18 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized in Centre County, three fewer than on Friday. Two are in intensive care and two are on ventilators.
A Mount Nittany Medical Center spokesperson said on Friday that current COVID-19 inpatients ranged in age from 22 to 91.
Through Aug. 27, the medical center has admitted 63 COVID-19 patients this month, with an average daily COVID inpatient census of 14. That’s a sharp increase from July, when there were 37 COVID admissions and an average daily census of six.
“The majority of people who have been hospitalized at the Medical Center for COVID are not fully vaccinated,” Dr. Upendra Thaker, chief medical officer, said in a statement. “The COVID vaccine – to include the recently FDA-approved Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (Comirnaty) – is highly effective and our best defense against the transmission of COVID in our community. We have vaccinated more than 45,000 people in our community, and we strongly encourage everyone to receive it.”
In response to the increase in cases and hospitalizations, Mount Nittany is not permitting visitors at the medical center except in special circumstances; allowing only one caregiver, if needed, to accompany patients to physician and outpatient appointments and the emergency department; and has rescheduled some elective surgeries requiring overnight admission.
For the week of Aug. 20-26, average daily COVID-specific hospitalizations in Centre County increased to 17.6 from 12.4 the previous seven days, according to the updated Department of Health early warning monitoring dashboard.
Statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to rise. As of Saturday morning, Pennsylvania has 1,749 COVID-19 inpatients, an increase of 27 since Friday, with 485 in intensive care [+9] and 207 on ventilators [+4]. Hospitalizations are at their highest level since May 11.
Average daily COVID hospitalizations across Pennsylvania increased from 1,181.7 to 1,543.7 for the week of Aug. 20-26.
An estimated 94% of COVID-19 patients in the state have recovered, according to a DOH calculation.
Positivity rate
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Aug. 20-26 was 7.5%, up from 6.2% the previous seven days, according to the monitoring dashboard. The rate was tied for 16th lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The county had 142 new cases for that seven-day period, 23 more than the prior week.
The statewide positivity rate was 7.8%, up from 6.8% the previous seven days. It was the eighth consecutive week Pennsylvania’s positivity rate increased after 12 consecutive weeks of decreases. The commonwealth had 15,149 new positives between Aug. 20-26, up from 12,944 the prior week.
Vaccinations
As of Saturday morning, 80,162 people in Centre County are fully vaccinated [+84 since Friday] and 6,522 are partially covered [+62]. According to the CDC, about 59% of the county’s entire population and 66% of adult residents have received at least one dose.
Statewide, 65.3% of Pennsylvania adults are fully vaccinated and the commonwealth ranks fifth nationally for total doses administered.
Centre County’s cases by zip code:
*Note: Changes are in brackets. Specific numbers for zip codes with 1-4 cases are redacted by the health department. Cases are not always immediately assigned zip codes.
16801 (State College): 5,792 confirmed [+12], 426 probable [+2]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 2,883 confirmed [+3], 288 probable [+3]
16803 (State College): 1,548 confirmed [+2], 204 probable [+2]
16802 (University Park): 1,420 confirmed [+3], 58 probable
16866 (Philipsburg): 988 confirmed [+4], 133 probable [-1]
16870 (Port Matilda): 539 confirmed, 83 probable [+1]
16841 (Howard): 463 confirmed [+1], 56 probable
16828 (Centre Hall): 327 confirmed [+1], 36 probable [+1]
16827 (Boalsburg): 318 confirmed [+1], 47 probable
16875 (Spring Mills): 318 confirmed [+2], 47 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 296 confirmed, 12 probable
16844 (Julian): 238 confirmed [+2], 25 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 139 confirmed, 8 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 134 confirmed, 21 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 115 confirmed, 18 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 96 confirmed, 8 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 92 confirmed, 12 probable
16854 (Millheim): 90 confirmed, 8 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 82 confirmed, 20 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 78 confirmed, 9 probable
16829 (Clarence): 78 confirmed, 20 probable
16851 (Lemont): 65 confirmed, 7 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 50 confirmed, 1-4 probable
16832 (Coburn): 36 confirmed, 5 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 34 confirmed, 1-4 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 33 confirmed, 1-4 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 31 confirmed, 8 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 21 confirmed, 5 probable
16835 (Fleming): 17 confirmed, 7 probable
16882 (Woodward): 15 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 13 confirmed
16804 (State College): 12 confirmed
Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties
Blair: 13,983 [+38]
Clearfield: 9,180 [+18]
Union: 6,318 [+6]
Mifflin: 5,622 [+12]
Huntingdon: 5,424 [+18]
Clinton: 3,890 [+3]
